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Something to Chew On: Getting ahead of food safety regulation

You can benefit in the marketplace, no matter what legislation is in effect

Recently someone described to me what he sees as two basic
regulatory approaches:

If it's done right, all will be right-which seems to be
the European Union (EU) model; or

If all turns out all right, it must have been done
right-the US approach.

Granted, this is a very simplistic view of a very
complicated issue. But it resonated with me in light of a key
piece of legislation pending in the US Congress right now: food
safety.
Inspired by 2007 recalls?

Though just passed by the US House of Representatives at the
end of July, H.R. 2749 could be said to have been inspired at
least partially by the petfood recalls of 2007. That string of
events-and consumer reaction to them-along with a series of
human food safety crises such as E. coli-contaminated produce,
led Congress to enact the
Food and Drug
Administration
(FDA) Amendments Act of 2007, imposing new
responsibilities on FDA. That included establishing a registry
for food and feed companies to report incidents of
adulteration.

Shortly after the act's passage, an Interagency Working
Group on Import Safety appointed by then US President George W.
Bush issued a report calling for greater recall authority for
FDA. After widespread Salmonella contamination of peanut
products and other crises over the past year, President Barack
Obama appointed a new Food Safety Working Group to recommend
ways to upgrade laws and better coordinate the myriad US
agencies with food safety oversight (11 in addition to
FDA).

All the crises, legislative efforts and work of these groups
fed into the new House bill, which would give FDA mandatory
recall authority. The bill would also require more frequent
inspection of processing plants and for companies to keep
better safety records. Part of the financing for all these new
initiatives would come from a US$500 annual fee for food
producers.

Move to influence

While nothing will happen until the US Senate tackles its
own version of a food safety bill, criticism of the House bill
has included concerns that the producer fees and other new fees
such as for reinspection and export certificates will just be
passed on to consumers in the form of higher food prices.

The
American Feed Industry Association
(AFIA), which said it had input on the House bill-and a
seat in the Food Safety Working Group-claimed success in
"creating a series of firewalls between food and feed
requirements, so any requirements specific and appropriate to
human food regulation would not inadvertently impede the
manufacture of livestock feed and petfood," read an AFIA press
release.

But the association also urged its members and other
industry professionals to carefully monitor food safety
legislation as it moves forward. "It's vital for the livestock
feed and petfood industries to be deeply involved in the
evolution of these bills and move to influence the resulting
national policy and regulations that will follow expected
enactment," said Joel Newman, AFIA president and CEO.

By consumer demand

With health care reform and climate change taking priority
for the US government this fall, the Senate bill is unlikely to
move forward very quickly. But eventually some form of
legislation will probably pass and be signed into law by
Obama.

That law will be neither as sweeping as its proponents want
nor as onerous as its critics fear. And it will likely not do
everything right, as EU rules attempt, nor will it guarantee
everything turns out all right, as US laws aim to do.

But the importance for petfood companies is that consumers,
including pet owners, have been demanding more oversight and
attention to this issue, and I believe they will react well to
any petfood manufacturer that demonstrates it gets the intent
of food safety measures. If you can show, as transparently as
possible, how your ingredient selection, sourcing, testing and
other procedures help ensure the safety, quality and health of
your products, you should benefit in the marketplace, no matter
what type of legislation is in effect.

Debbie Phillips-Donaldson is editor-in-chief of Petfood Industry. Email her at dphillips@wattglobal.com.